First and foremost, we would like to thank everyone who came out on Saturday. We were blessed with great weather and a fantastic turnout for the Board the Fjord. Every year people travel far and wide for this event, and it would not be possible without your undying support. You racers are the heart and soul of this race and its why Deep Cove Kayak Centre continues to put it on year after year.

With the pleasantries out of the way, let’s get down to our race recaps. With smoking hot conditions on Saturday and high winds, the 14km Board The Fjord racers were in for a tough one. To make things even harder, the Deep Cove Yacht Club was out in full force and the local boaters were causing havoc throughout the arm. However, we were lucky to have the auxiliary coast guard on duty and boat drivers Ruper Jasper and Cameron Underhill keeping an eye out for the athletes.

In the Men’s SS division it was Greig Redmen and Jamie Klein taking top honours with outstanding times of just over an hour. 16-year-old phenom Jonas Ecker claimed 3rd places while local talent Dari Fisher and Steve Juranovics teamed up for 1st in the doubles division and Seth Putnam and Young Finn Redmen took 2nd place. As for the Female Sally Wallick powered through for a 2nd win at the Board the Fjord followed closely by Elana Ecker and Sandy Redmen. It seems as though paddling runs in the family for the Eckers and Redmens.

There was a large field for the 14′ SUPs on Satuary, and it was none other than Mike Darbyshire who took home the glory and setting a new course record of 1:25.26. The sprint specialist Davide Cina was not far behind as Davide, and Adam Gerbrecht battled it our for 2nd and 3rd to the bitter end with Davide taking home 2nd. It was good to see some old faces with Matthew Abbott and Adam Cole making top 10 finishes. For the Women, Tamlyn Bohm charged her way into the top 10 overall and finished 1st in her division. Local racers Shannon Bell, Shawna Magowan, and Krista Cline were not far behind as they all battled hard.

As for Prone and OC1, it was a competitive day. It was Ash James and Leni Corin taking home 1st in the Men’s and Women’s division respectively. It was a stressful day to be lying down on Saturday as the cop only continued to get more prominent throughout the day. James Thesiger took won the day and locals Joel Perkins, and Brad Roark placed 2nd and 3rd. Big shout out to these guys who pushed limits on Saturday.

Now for a brief TNR recap. It was as wet as wet can be on Tuesday night. But that didn’t stop 53 paddlers from showing up and putting in a great effort after a long weekend of racing. This weeks course was the surprise race and oh boy was it ever a surprise.

We will kick it off with the Surfski division as this was the most epic finish of the season so far. With just over 400 meters to go, it was Warren Bruce, Dari Fisher, Bob Putnam, and Chris D all neck and neck. Dari kicked first and looked to have the race in the bag however even after racing 14km on the week Bob Putnam tapped into his reserve tank and pushed for the win. With the top 4 paddlers all finishing within 0:04 second of each other it was anyone’s race. The cheers from the race boat could be heard throughout the cove as they pushed bob across the finish line.

For the 14″ SUPs the big surprise was not so much the course but who was racing. Karly Cox made her TNR debut for the first time. Karly places a respectable 9th place for only training once and week while juggling two children. We hope to see Karly out there more often as she has nowhere to go but up. It was Matthew Abbott who took 1st place, and Matthew and Evan Gerbrecht duked it out to the bitter end. It was good to see Dwayne Lotnick make an appearance. We miss you dearly and hope to see you out more often!

Once again thank you to everyone who made it out on Saturday and to those warriors who continued the grind on Tuesday. See you all next week!